Seventeenth century English author John Donne quoted:
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
No man is an island ……. 
And rightly so even if one thinks he or she is it cannot be.
The connection between us is too great and irregardless we all occupy the same space.
We like to think we can live apart from each other and we like to think we do it successfully at times….then, a cry is sent out and whether we recognize it consciously or not we hear it and are called to see another or others – we tap back in to the grid.
Actually we are always tapped in even if sometimes we only hang by a mere thread on the outskirts of the grid.
Seen from above, there are clusters of energy when we gather to pray or protest, heal or war. The clusters intensify during tragedies when folks not of common ground band together in hopes of salvation for the sake of all in the group.
When our ship is sinking we cling to each other regardless of race or financial status.
In a crisis is when each is equal and people look at each other square in the eyes – sending compassion towards one another.
It is like the fire ants and I wonder if they, too, fill with empathy and hang on to one another for survival.
These ants can turn themselves into life rafts, even surviving flash floods in the rain forests.
They don’t leave anything behind when they climb up onto their own bodily rafts bringing all the eggs and their young with them.
The ants use their claws and their jaws to grip onto one another. The hairs on their bodies allow them to trap air bubbles and when they all band together the individual bubbles become one protective air pocket. This protective layer of air keeps them from sinking to the bottom and drowning.
We can look to the ants who demonstrate ‘no man is an island’ so well. Whether working, playing or surviving tragedy they are there for one another in body and in spirit.
